Re: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ig/2002OctDec/thread.html#519
"Why does this just come up as source in my browser?"
At 06:40 AM 2002-11-28, Ineke van der Maat wrote:
>Hallo all,
>
>I can read the interesting article Michael Burks mentioned as
>http://www.ideal-group.org/World_Bank/
>in Opera 7beta and tried it in Mozilla 1.2 too.
>
>I thought correct code of a site is important for accessibility and is
>on topic of this list
>
>When I only see codes in stead of text, I usually go back to the
>original directory and type very simple only that in the addressbar to
>see if there is an alternate version.
Thank you, Ineke, for that under-used recovery tip.
It appears that there is a dysfunction in the server. I haven't pursued
it to the point to know if it is a programming [Apache code] or configuration
[site administration -- site-wide programming of the content] error.
When you request the URL which addresses the directory and hence get the
default page in that directory, the server serves the page marked (in the
HTTP headers) as of type text/html.
If you request the URL which includes the 'index.asp' explicit "filename"
the server serves the same page but in the HTTP metadata marks it as
text/plain.
Strictly spec-compliant browsers will not process the HTML markup in a
document that the HTTP transport has announced to be of type text/plain.
Sniffing in the file and rendering as HTML something that has been given you
as plain text (in terms of the markings in the HTTP metadata) is something
that some browsers do but the TAG would like to discourage.
http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/2002/0129-mime#consistency
In my personal opinion the TAG is here trying to legislate away the natural
order of things. This won't work, and continuing to try will lead the Web
to more rapid irrelevance, not it highest potential. But that may be off
topic for this list. It does matter to whether there are business benefits
to be had for investing in design-for-all for *a web presence*.
Al
PS: What Mike Burks didn't do was to open a new browser and load the page
from the exact URL string that he was about to share in an email message.
Then again, if he has the most commonly used browser, he still would not
have found the problem. One has to use a picky beast like Lynx for such
testing.
>Greetings
>Ineke van der Maat
>
>
>With good will for the entire cosmos,
>cultivate a limitless heart:
>Above, below, & all around,
>unobstructed, without hostility or hate